Many enjoyable games involve a player's knowledge of subject matter other than game rules, game odds, and game strategy, such that a player with relevant, superior knowledge obtains an improved possibility of obtaining success in the game. Such games are a type of “skill” game, rather than a game of chance.
A popular board type skill game known as “Trivial Pursuit” involves the use of a playing piece associated with each player that moves about a playing board with several different colored squares comprising potential landing areas. The player's piece is moved a number of squares and lands on a landing area corresponding to the number of black dots face up after the roll of a die. The game also includes a large number of cards, where one surface of the card bears colors corresponding to the colors of the landing spaces, each of which in turn corresponds to a particular category of knowledge, such as sports, geography, history, etc. The same face of the card also includes a question for each color or knowledge category. The reverse side of the card bears corresponding colors and an associated, correct answer to the corresponding question. When a player's playing piece lands on a square of a certain color, another player picks one of the cards, and reads to the player the question on the card corresponding to the color/knowledge category of the landing area. For example if the player's playing piece lands on a colored square corresponding to the history category, the question on the card may be, for example, “Who was the U.S. President who obtained the largest percentage margin of victory in a Presidential election since 1900?” If the player correctly answers the question, then the player continues his turn, otherwise the turn passes to another player. Without elaborating further on the details of the rules of play of the Trivial Pursuit game, it is to the player's advantage to correctly answer the question and to continue play.
Another popular skill game broadcast by television is known as “Jeopardy”. This game utilizes a number of statements arranged in a rectangular array, with the columns of the array representing different subject matters, such as American history, silent films, baseball, etc., and the rows indicating different monetary values, such as $50, $100, etc. Initially the players do not see the statements, and when a player has a turn, the player may select a statement by designating the column and row, such as “American history for $100”. The statement would then be revealed, for example, “He was the first of the first pair of Presidents having the same last name”, and the player would then respond with a question, “Who was John Adams?” for the correct response or “Who was Joe Jones?” for an incorrect response. If a player responds incorrectly, then the player loses a turn, however, if the player responds correctly, then the player is awarded the monetary value associated with the statement. It will be appreciated that although the Jeopardy game presents a statement, and asks a player to respond with the proper question, in essence, the statement is really a question and the response is really an answer. Other details of the Jeopardy game are believed to be immaterial to the instant application, but suffice it to say that by responding correctly, a player achieves greater success in the game.
In yet another popular skill game broadcast by television known as “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire”, a contestant or player is sequentially asked a series of questions and then usually given four multiple choice potential answers to each question, one of which is the correct answer. For each question, the player is awarded an increasing amount of money for choosing the correct answer. Usually the questions and potential answers presented later in the sequence are more difficult to correctly answer than those presented earlier in the sequence. Again, other details of the game are believed to be immaterial, however, the player's knowledge or skill permits the player to have a better chance of success in playing the game.
In yet another popular televised skill game known as “Family Feud”, a team of players or contestants is presented with a question such as “name things that crawl”, and then the team must answer the question with what the team thinks are the most frequent answers previously given by a group of people. Usually, the game requires the team to give answers that correctly identify the most frequent three, four, or five answers before the team gives three answers that are not in the most frequent three, four, or five answers. The team is awarded points for its answers that correspond with the most frequent answers given by the group. Other details respecting this game are not material to this background discussion, but again, the knowledge or skill of the players on the team enhances the team's possibility of success in the game.
Skill games such as those described above are not readily adaptable to a wagering type of game, such as a casino game in which players play against the casino or house. If the house sets a standard of achievement of the game such as a certain number of correct answers that must be achieved in order to win, then many unskilled players will lose at the game, some so often that they refuse to continue playing the game. On the other hand, some players may be so skilled that they consistently achieve the standard and win more than they lose, thus “beating the house”. The relatively highly knowledgeable or skilled players would thus play the game to their profit and to the casino's or house's unprofitability.
Virtually all casino wagering games constitute games of chance, rather than skill, with the odds always slightly in the casino's or house's favor. Thus, over a large number of players, or over a long length of play by a single player, the house will achieve a profit.
The present invention generally relates to methods of playing games, such as wagering, casino games, that involve questions and answers and which, for example, adapt the foregoing types of games into games of chance, and not skill, for play in a casino environment.